Bethlehem Receives Data On 2015 Sewage Planning

October 14, 1992|by DAN HARTZELL, The Morning Call

Bethlehem is moving ahead with the planned expansion of its sewage treatment plant, but the capacity to which the facility needs to be increased during the next 20 years has yet to be determined -- along with the estimated cost.

City Council's public works committee was treated yesterday to an update on the ongoing expansion plan.

At issue are population projections for the city and nine other municipalities that use the "wastewater treatment plant," as the city calls it, located on Shimersville Road.

Karl Schreiter Jr. of the city's engineering consultants, BCM Engineers of Plymouth Meeting, said figures supplied by the National Planning Data Center suggest Bethlehem will reach a population of about 87,500 people by the year 2015, the target date of the study.

"I can't imagine Bethlehem having 87,000 people," said panel Chairman Paul Calvo -- in 2015 or any other year in the future. "We're pretty well developed (to the limit) now."

According to the 1990 census, Bethlehem has 71,500 residents.

Public Works Director Wendell Sherman said there's no accurate way to predict population trends, but Schreiter said the agency that made the estimate is reliable. He said the Joint Planning Commission of Lehigh-Northampton Counties could provide no projection for 2015.

A phase of the expansion project scheduled for next year is for the other municipal users --Hellertown, Fountain Hill, Freemansburg, Allentown, and the townships of Hanover (Lehigh and Northampton counties), Bethlehem, Lower Saucon and Salisbury to make their usage projections.

About 250 homes in Allentown are served by the Bethlehem plant.

The plant has a rated capacity of 15.5 million gallons per day, and engineers are working to increase that to 18 mgd with relatively minor upgrades. The state Department of Environmental Resources must approve the increase.

An average of 12-14 mgd is processed at the plant, and the estimated population increase for Bethlehem alone would increase demand by 816,000 mgd, based on the consultant's estimate that each person creates 51 gallons per day.

However, "The big (population) expansion will be outside the city" in the relatively undeveloped townships, Sherman said.

He declined repeated requests to provide rough estimates of the needed capacity in the year 2015, and for the cost of the expansion. Planning for the expansion began in 1985. The facility was built in 1950, with one previous expansion completed in 1976, officials said.

Schreiter estimated the expansion could be completed by 1998 or 2000.

Sherman said a bond issue will be needed for construction, with the issue to be repaid by sewer billing revenue.